When they notice me, the two elderly women ask if I want them to stop ...
Tag: Public Streets
On Finding the Turkish Fountain: Belgrade, Serbia
A visit to Belgrade is almost sure to include a walk to see the view of the ...
Street of the Setting Sun: Caracas, Venezuela
Calle el Poniente is named for the setting sun, but if you look out the window of the middle bedroom of the house with the vines, you can instead see the sun rising ...
Of Cats and Caliban: Limassol, Cyprus
After the color and clatter of fireworks on Epiphany, a quiet melancholy settles over Limassol. The cool, overcast days of winter seem to deflate this small city ...
The Pasajlar of Tunalı Hilmi Çaddesi, Ankara
Bookended by Koçatepe Mosque and Kuğulu Park, Tunalı Hilmi Çaddesi is a leafy anomaly in a city that worships concrete ...
Street Cleaning on 24th Street: Mission District, San Francisco
“You get SOMA, you’re screwed,” says a woman in leggings and a tightly drawn ...
“Detroit Is No Dry Bones”: Photos of a Surviving City
In February, just after a big snowstorm, I revisited Detroit. It was my second trip ...
Watery Roots: The Alex Haley Swimming Pool, Ithaca, NY
The writer Alex Haley was born in the city of Ithaca (just south of Ulysses, NY) ...
In Search of No. 70, Adalbertstrasse, Berlin
Bonanza Coffee Roasters is located in a quiet courtyard, tucked away from the hustle of the neighborhood of Kreuzberg in such a way that I completely miss ...
The Fortunes of Senso-ji, Tokyo
Asakusa is just west of the Sumida River in the shitamachi, the “old town” of Tokyo. Much of this part of Tokyo, including most of the venerated Buddhist temple ...
No Exit: Recreating George Tooker’s “The Subway”
Late on election night in 2016, I rode the subway home from what I had hoped would be a celebration, but the car was full and quiet and covered by a pall. Perhaps not everyone was thinking of the election ...
Four Days in Catalonia: The Referendum in Pictures
By 9:30 a.m. on October 1, voting had only just begun at the Sanllehy medical center in the La Salut neighborhood of Barcelona. A large crowd had gathered outside the polling station...
Living on the Edge: Outer Richmond, San Francisco
Ascend the stairs of an apartment building called Bay View, a misnomer, since the view of the northern waters is blockaded by Seacliff, where faux-historic mega-mansions loom over Baker Beach …
La Súbida Ecuador: Valparaíso, Chile
Fruit and vegetable sellers line the angled street known as la Súbida Ecuador. You really only go to Ecuador if you can’t make it to the Mercado Cardenal two miles ...
James Baldwin’s Istanbul
“Baby, I’m broke, I’m sick. I need your help,” James Baldwin said to a friend when he landed in Europe, looking for a place to rest. This time, his European city of choice wasn’t Paris. It was Istanbul. …
What O’Keeffe Saw: Chimayo and Abiquiu
A priest waited in the sacristy to bless a boy from the town of Chimayo. I listened to the benediction, muffled by adobe, while bending over el pocito, a shallow ...
Hawarden: A Castle and Its Dogs
Hawarden, pronounced “Harden,” sits on the edge of Wales. Walk along the River Dee for an hour and you’ll cross into England. This is borderland ...
The Street and the World: Rua do Benformoso, Lisbon
A short walk from Lisbon’s central Baixa district—where tourists flock …
Signs of Bombay
In December 2016, Public Books Editor in Chief Sharon Marcus spent a few days in Mumbai, participating in the Times of India Literary Festival and walking around the city. Mumbai, also known as ...
The University and the Station: A Brontë Bicentenary in Taiwan
It takes a circuitous taxi ride winding up Lianhai Road to reach Taiwan’s …